Savvy Tips

Top 10 Online Marketing Strategies

• Utitlize email. It's cheap and it's one of the most effective and measurable ways to promote your business. Make sure your distribution list is up to date and take the time to develop compelling subject lines. Create trigger emails that are automatically generated when your customers do something specific like sign up for your newsletter or to welcome new subscribers. Consider sending out holiday and promotional material as email to cut down on traditional mailing and printing cost.
• Promote your company on everything that's not nailed down. - Every sticky note, email or piece of paper should either help brand your company or promote your latest offering. Include your web address in your email signature and make sure your staff does the same. Make sure that your faxes, invoices, envelopes, include your tagline and a clear call to action related to garnering new customers.
• Leverage “share with a friend”. There's no better way to spread the word about your company or services than to use your existing customer base. If you've developed a blog, a website, or a newsletter that people find valuable, they are generally more than willing to share. Make it easy for them with “share” call-to-actions.
• Consider surveys and polls. Not only is this a great way to get immediate feedback from your customers but, if your audience is particularly nitched, it's potentially a new revenue stream to promote to your advertisers.
• Sell ad space in your emails. This is an excellent way to help monetize your emails. Select specific areas where you will allow “sponsored ads” and then determine pricing. Stay mindful of the ratio of ads to your message, however. There's a clear balance that should be maintained.
• Send out a newsletter. Once you've developed the template, it's just a matter of creating content. If resources are slim, start with a quarterly newsletter to showcase your business. Besides everyone loves getting something for free. Create content that is fresh and informative and your customers begin to perceive and value your brand as an industry leader. Remember that it's not so much about promoting your services as providing valuable insights that your customers can put to good use. It's also a very smart way to drive traffic to your website.
• Practice good email etiquette. As much as we love email, you can easily turn off your customers if you're bombarding them everyday. Make sure that you maintain a clean email list (remove individuals who asked to be removed, remove duplicates, and make sure your list is current) and determine a maximum for email sends based on monthly or even weekly criteria.
• Create link alliances. SEM isn't the only solution to search engine ranking. Rather than purchasing a bunch of keywords - which frankly, should already be included in abundance throughout your web site - take the time to allign yourself with companies that are natural allies. For instance, if you're a graphic design, you might naturally partner with a printing company. You then link to them and they'll in turn include links to your site. It develops a relationship with peers in your industry and helps increase your ranking in search engines. The more your site is linked to, the higher you'll rank.
• Dive into social networking. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to target specific audiences easily and inexpensively. Their viral quality is an added bonus.
• Get Savvy. We'll help you put all these strategies to good use to create exceptional marketing
  that grows your business.